


The Diamonds Plaything

by A_Writer_of_Whimsy



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alien Abduction, F/F, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, Multi, mentions of child abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-25
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-12-06 22:46:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11610531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_Writer_of_Whimsy/pseuds/A_Writer_of_Whimsy
Summary: Swept away into the stars, Jennifer has been taken on orders from the Diamond Authority. Determined to find her way home, she refuses to accept the judgement of Yellow Diamond to turn her into a pet for Blue Diamond. She will get back home, no matter what, despite the feelings she begins to develop for her captors...





	1. Specimen Retrieval

**Author's Note:**

> Starting off on a new adventure here. Be aware that this fic right now is kind of safe for all audiences, but I might steer the direction in a not-so-kid friendly area if I feel that's where the story is heading. Hopefully I'll be able to tell within a few chapters and will change tags and warnings accordingly, but just bear with me for the first three or four until I get my bearings.

The day I was kidnapped, I was going out for a study session. My mom was gone, as usual, working until the late hours. I didn’t like hold a grudge over it, though. Single parent has gotta do what a single parent has gotta do, ya know? So that’s why I would usually head out to go study at a friend’s house.

Nobody could say that Jennifer Conners was a slacker. I was the smart kid, the one who took all those extra enrichment courses, stayed after with teachers for one on one tutoring, the whole dorky thing. Anyways, I recall locking up my front door with the latchkey and putting it in my pocket. Then I took out a rubber band from the same pocket and put my long light brown hair up into a fast bun. 

See, even though it was early evening, the humidity and heat were killing me, so best to get all those stray strands out of the way. My hair was long, like close to waist length but not quite. I always ended up putting it in a bun or a ponytail. 

I had on my backpack, which was super heavy because my friend Case said he needed my notes for a test the next day and that’s why we decided to just make a study session. I think I even said something like, “Dang, I hope he really meant it when he said he needed all these notes.” 

I pattered down my front porch steps. I liked how my flip flops flapped with each step. God I miss that house, the little one story grey thing that housed my mom and me. It was fraying in paint at the corners, definitely needed a good washing along the porch, but it always looked so inviting with mom’s flowers blooming in her garden. It took up over half of the front lawn and kind of spilled out onto the driveway. 

I always had to be careful not to squish any of the tulips as I ran out the driveway. I always jogged down that little suburban street,because walking wasn’t fast enough for me. Oaks Space was a tucked away little place in the midst of some woodland in Kentucky, a little more isolated than I liked most of the time, since there wasn’t much to really besides sleepovers and movie nights. Still, it was nice, quiet, and safe. 

There were definitely worse places to be. 

Case already had his door swung open for me, so I just went inside. Case was lounging on the couch, letting the turning fan rotate back and forth over him. 

“Are you melting?” I asked, teasing him. 

“Yesssss,” Case rose up from like a zombie, arms out in everything. “Oh what a world! Look what this heat has done to me.”

“Ok drama club, let’s get to work.” I fell to my knees and dropped my backpack at my side. “Here,” I unzipped my bag and brought out my science notes, “these are what you need right?” 

“Yeah, but you brought the history stuff too, yes please?” Case huffed a loose bang out of his face. He had that kind of long, curly black hair, and his skin was an amber shade just shy of gold. Whenever he got a tan, I’d tease him that he’d go bronze if he wasn’t careful. 

“Yeah,” I said, and brought out the other book. “Here, take both.” We hit the books, chatting in between. It was so easy to just be around him.

We originally became friends in sixth grade math class. Then later, he and I liked each other because we got it, being the only ‘crooked’ people at our school (Get it? Not straight? We thought it was funny at the time). I can’t say we were “bullied,” but definitely only tolerated. We accepted and loved each other, though, making our own sort of two-person clique. 

About an hour into studying, he turned on the TV to “Who has Talent?!” I liked that show a lot. I sang along to most of the hits I knew, and Case liked to join in. 

At some point, he brought up an old debate we’d had since middle school. “Jen, you should totally try out for that show! You sing better than most of them. I don’t know why you just sing in the choir, and like never compete.”

I rolled my eyes and waved my hand. “No way, dude, I would fail so hard. I like to sing along with stuff, but competitions? I’d be just average in the real deal.”

“You’re so above average!” He threw down his pencil, put a hand through his hair. “Look, I remember you used to. You even won that tri-state thing even! Your mom still has that trophy in the living room. You just stopped all of a sudden.” 

“It wasn’t ‘all of a sudden,’” I put my science notes down, already bored with them anyway. “I just wanted to get serious about school. Singing isn’t a guarantee for a good job, it’s a big maybe. Besides, I don’t have any dreams to be a singer, not like those other girls.” 

I put my hands in my lap and wrung them together. I said,  “I’m not interested in being famous, anyway, like at all. I didn’t want to be an opera star or a pop star, I just wanted to have fun.” 

Case sighed, flopping down onto his couch. “Man, that’s such a shame! If it were me and I had your voice, I wouldn’t stop until I was making BANK with CDs and record deals out the wazoo.” 

“But you’re not me,” I reminded him. “And I’m just happy to sing karaoke with you and maybe Gloria once sometimes. I don’t need a big stage, I just need to graduate with honors.” 

“Neeerd,” Case said from his laid out position. The fan breezed over him, back and forth a few times as we sat in silence, just thinking. He spoke up again a little later, “It’s just, I dunno, it sucks I’ll never got to see you on a big stage.”

I blushed as I picked up my science notes again. “It’s fine, jeeze, let’s just get back to work.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” he sat up. He grinned at me as he opened his textbook. “By the way, Gloria huh?”

“Shut up.” I said, blushing some more. 

“Ohhhhh?” And that caused a whole other debate, one that we both knew wouldn’t end with me telling her that liked her. Gloria was the new girl at school, from California. Case held out hope that she would be more “open.” I vowed never to tell her. 

I wish I had though, now that I’ll never get the chance. 

Case’s cell rang at around eight thirty, I know it must’ve been because our fav show was still on when he took the call. We were still studying with the show on as background noise. I remember thinking I should head out, get some sleep before the tests. Sometimes I wonder what would’ve happened if I had just trusted my gut and left, but I didn’t. 

“No way, for real?” Case tilted his head back and laughed. “Dude, you’re crazy. UFO’s? Here? This is the woods, man, what would aliens want out here?”

“Wait, where?” I asked, curious, thinking it must be military from the nearby base. “Can we go look?”

He covered the phone with his hand. “No! Study time, remember? And your mom would kill me dead if I got you abducted. We’re staying here.”

I stood up and grinned, putting my hands on my hips. “Adventure is calling, sir. We don’t ignore it.” 

“We do when we’ve got a midterm the next day.” He deadpanned. His eyebrows lifted from something someone said on the line. “Hey, you ok?” He stared at his phone, confused. “That’s weird, he said something about a bright light and then...it disconnected.”

I dropped my arms, suddenly not feeling so playful. “Do you think he’s in trouble?”

“I don’t know, he might’ve just fallen.” He stood up and put on his sneakers. “They were looking at it out at the gorge. If they were looking at the top-.” He cut himself off and shook his head. “I’ve got my bike and my dad’s. We can get there in about ten minutes.” 

“Ok, I’m with ya!” I said, feeling nervous and thrilled all at the same time. I’d never been a part of an emergency like that. It was cool, to think I might play like a heroic role for someone. I ran out with him, hoping on his dad’s bike and hitting the pavement quick.

We rode like mad men through the forest trails. Most of them were easy, just a few swerves around some bushes or cluster of baby oaks. Closer to the gorge, the bushes thickened. At night, even with our lights on in front, it was hard to see. We knew most of these paths by heart, memorized them from childhood with hours upon hours just riding around for fun. 

Although, we weren’t supposed to go at night, it was easy to get lost, to go over the edge of the cliff at the end of the trails. Our gorge was situated between two big hills, a part of the Appalachian Mountain range that didn’t manage to get big enough to be considered mountain sized. You could survive a fall from certain heights, but at the top, well, not so much. 

Case and I stopped right about the same time. I took out my cell to use the flashlight app, and started walking towards the gorge. Case followed behind me, tapping on his cell to call up his friend again. He tried twice, but there was no answer. I kept going until we reached the edge. 

The gorge wasn’t big, I suppose, in comparisons to like other valleys and real mountains. Still, falling from would definitely break bones, maybe even kill a person. I put my light over the edge, but I couldn’t see down far enough. My light was just too dim, and the gorge wasn’t a straight shot down, there were roots and things in the way.

“He would know not to get this close.” Case said, a deep frown on his face. “We all know not to get this close.”

“Right,” I said, because it was true. “So, maybe he fell before here?” I turned around and searched the tree line. “Maybe he’s just somewhere with a twisted ankle near a creek? Or maybe he went towards the bridge?” 

“Good ideas, but we need help if we’re going to search all that.” Case started walking towards the bikes. “I’m gonna go check the marker back there and call the cops. If he is really hurt, he’ll need an ambulance, right? Just stay here, I’ll be right back.” 

He went into the woods, jogging just out of sight. I stood there with my cell lit up, just standing in the darkness. Now that I think about it, that’s probably what got me picked up. A tiny little light among the dark trees must’ve stood out. 

The next thing I know, I heard this strange whooshing sound. I turned to see what it was, and got arms wrapped around me. I screamed, but a hand covered my mouth quickly. 

“Hush, human!” a gruff voiced commanded, “You’re coming with me! Don’t fight me or nothin’. I’m not gonna hurt ya.” 

I tried to scream for help again, kicked out my feet. My phone fell from my hand, bounced off the grass and fell into the gorge. My stomach dropped as I felt myself being lifted up, up, up, into a waiting light up in the sky. I tried to fight the whole way up, but the arms around me were too strong. 

I looked down at the woods to see if Case saw me, but he wasn’t there. I flailed wildly, tried to kick at the alien’s body. 

“Cut it out! We’re just here to retrieve specimens. Pipe down!”

I finally looked at the thing that took me, and gasped. It was purple, with strange white hair. Some weird glowing rock was on its cheek. I shook my head, tried to get out of its hold. 

It said, “No, you’re just gonna scream if I let go. Wait until we get on the ship, then you can scream all you like.” I glared at it and kicked it hard in the shin. “Ow! Quit it! You earthlings are so rude. You should be grateful!” I kicked it again. “Stop it or I’ll drop you!” 

“No you won’t!” said a voice from above. 

We both looked up to see a, well, a blue woman with two strange bumps in her white hair. We got closer and closer to her. I realized she was standing in what must be a doorway of a red ship. I lost it, I really did, bit at the creature, I kicked out, but nothing was working. The purple one holding me just started yelling at me more and tightening her arms. 

The woman grabbed hold of me as soon as I was in reach. “Honestly!” she cried out, “Can’t you Amethysts do anything right? One male human, this isn’t a male!” 

“I had no choice, Holly Blue! The other one fell down into a river, this is all I could get.” The purple one and I struggled against each other. “Can I put her in the cage now? She’s gettin’ real annoyin’.” 

“Fine!” The blue woman, Holly Blue, sighed. “I suppose we’ll just have to come back later for a male. Our pair system for diverse DNA structures must be adhered to, but I suppose one more female won’t be remiss in case of unforeseen problems.”

The Amethyst one let go of my mouth to take both my arms in hand. I started shouting, loudly as possibly. “Let me go! I’m not what you want, so just take me back! Please!” 

“Shut up! God, you’re so loud.” Amethyst shoved me into what felt more like a storage closet than a cage. “Quit being all dramatic. You’ll like it at the zoo. You’ll see.” 

“The what?!” But then the door closed. No matter how much I banged on it or shouted for answers, it didn’t open. 

I wish I could say I was super brave and stoic, but that’d be a lie. When it finally hit me that I was on an alien spaceship, heading for some kind of human “zoo,” I burst into tears and couldn’t stop. I really got mad at myself, how could I be so stupid? Why didn’t we just call the cops in the first place, let them handle it? I curled up into a ball of self pity and self hate all in one. I’m not much of a crier, but I think if there was ever a situation where it was understandable, mine was it. 

After I had my long crying session, I just waited. I don’t know how long it was in there, definitely more than five hours or so. I was exhausted, hungry, and heart aching, but I refused to sleep. I needed to know where I was going, what was going to happen to me. I went over to the door and listened, trying to hear something, anything. Only muffled droning made its way to me. 

I sighed and moved to the far back wall. I waited, waited, but out of boredom and a need to do something, I started singing softly to myself. “Home is a place I long to be.” I stumbled over the notes, too upset to do it right. “Home is where people love me.” I couldn’t remember most of it, so I filled it in with made up parts, just trying to kill time until, well, whatever was going to happen. 

By the time the door finally opened, I was done with my song. Amethyst was looking at me strangely in the doorway, an open and curious expression. It was a complete change of pace from the anger she’d had earlier. 

Holly Blue came into view, staring down at me. “You have a choice,” she said, “come out of your own volition or have my Amethyst here drag you out. What’s it gonna be?” 

I glared at her and said nothing. Amethyst sighed put her hand to her forehead as if staving off a headache. 

The blue woman scoffed. “Fine, have it your way. Amethyst, get our new addition to assimilation, however you wish. But don’t damage her!” 

“Yes, Holly Blue.” Amethyst said as made a weird twisty salute with her arms. 

Holly humphed and sauntered out the door. Amethyst dropped her pose and came into the room. I tensed, expecting her to drag me out, struggle with me like last time. I was surprised when she dropped to one knee and got close. 

“Listen, we’re really not gonna hurt you. I know it might all seem scary right now, but you’re actually so safe. It’s like the safest place for humans in the entire universe, I swear.” She put out a hand as she stood up. “Just come with me, see for yourself.” 

I stared at her hand, back up at her, only to look at her hand again. It was so smooth, no fingerprints or anything. I opened my mouth to say something mean I think, but what came out was, “What are you people?” 

“Oh, we’re gems.” Amethyst said, “It’s kind of tough to explain, but basically, we’re magic.”

“Magic?” I asked, not really buying it. “Magic gems?”

“Yeah,” Amethyst put her hand closer. “I’ll tell you more if you’ll walk with me?” 

I gazed over from one wall to the next. There was no way I could escape her, she was being nice for some reason now, and I couldn’t stay in the ship forever. I hesitated, but I put my hand in hers. As we walked out the door together, she started explaining again. 

“See, we come from this place called Homeworld...” 

I learned a lot of things from her, Homeworld, the Diamond Authority, a lot of different gem types, and a very brief history of the Crystal Gem rebellion on Earth. She walked slow, took her time getting me to assimilation, I think trying to help me calm down. It kind of worked, a little, but I was overwhelmed with all the gem things. 

“Wait,” I stopped her as we entered a new hallway, “but why a zoo? What’s going on?”

“Uh,” Amethyst’s eyes bounced from here to there, “well, ya see, um…”

“You said we should be grateful when you were taking me away. Why should I be grateful? Why am I a specimen?” I struggled to get that last word out. I didn’t like the thought of being a science experiment like in my notes. 

“It’s because,” Amethyst stared down at me for a beat before she blurted out, “Blue Diamond, ya know my diamond? She wants to, uh, learn about humans! Yeah, because she misses her sister, Pink Diamond, the shattered one. See Pink made the zoo, and so now Blue owns the zoo for her sister’s memory, so she wants more humans for that!” She smiled, looking triumphant. 

“Ok,” I said, processing everything she said so fast. “Can I talk to Blue Diamond?”

Amethyst vigorously shook her head. “No way! No can do! Blue Diamond is, uh, scary.” 

“Scary?” I put my hands on my hips and cocked my head to the side. “But you said she wanted to learn about humans. How can she do that without meeting us?” 

“It’s complicated,” Amethyst took me by the shoulder to lead me down the hall again. “Look, just try this place out. Give it a chance! You might like it here.”

“But my home-.”

“Sorry, that ain’t home anymore.” She pointed to a pink tube. “Look, you’ve got to get in there. If Holly Blue sees you out and about, she won’t take you home, she’ll do something bad to both of us. Get in and we’ll figure something out later, ok?” 

I stood in front of the tube, biting my lip. “Will it hurt?”

“Nah, it’s just going to test you for stuff and put you in new clothes. Might not be comfortable, but it won’t hurt.” Amethyst opened the door and gestured for me to go inside. “Welcome to the zoo.” 

###

It didn’t hurt, sure, but yeah it wasn’t comfortable. A lot of poking and prodding, and then my clothes! I couldn’t believe it took my clothes. I ended up in a flimsy loincloth thing with a blue cover vest for by chest, not exactly my most modest look. And there were these earrings, purple that faded into pink in little triangles. 

After going through the tube, I somehow ended up in a strange faux-beachside arena. I could tell the “sky” was actually just some kind of projection, and the “beach” couldn’t be natural because it was just, I don’t know, too perfect. 

A human guy ran up to me with a big smile on his face and cried out, “WELCOME NEW PERSON!” He had dark green eyes, really big black hair, and a darker complexion. He wore a lion cloth much like mine and matching earrings. He took my hands in his. “I am Y6. This is my home, and now it’s your home too!” 

Y6 was really sweet if a bit, well, overly enthusiastic. He took me out of the water and into these strange trees, chatting the whole time. “This is so great! So many new people and new friends!” At a clearing there were a whole bunch of different humans. 

“Hello, I’m Jennifer.” I said, nervous. 

“Hello, Jennefear,” said a women with puffy blonde hair, dark green eyes, and a paler complexion. “I am J10.” 

Everyone summarily introduced themselves, but I’ll focus on Y6 and J10 for the most part. I found out pretty quickly that Y6 and J10 were the unofficial leaders of the ragtag group. Some humans had just arrived, some had been there for all their lives, but none of them were interested in escaping. I found out most of the new people had been homeless, living on the streets and picked up pretty easily. 

“Really?” I asked the humans who had arrived there recently. “Don’t any of you miss Earth?”

One woman, I think named Miranda, told me, “It’s good here. They feed you, they take care of you if you get really sick like I did.” She shrugged and looked away. “No one’s ever really taken care of me like that before, so I’m sticking around. Not much on Earth for me, really.” 

“Oh, I see.” I felt so bad for them. I couldn’t imagine having nothing, no family or friends, and then suddenly having all of those things? I guess I couldn’t blame them for wanting to stay.  I decided after to initial encounter to just keep my feelings to myself. I would stay quiet, but alert, and be ready to get out on my own. 

I got the shock of my life when a voice from the earrings said, “It’s time to start the daily routine!” 

“What the heck?!” I pointed to the earrings and looked at J10 for an explanation.

“Oh, it’s just the little voice! It guides us. Do not be afraid.” J10 took my hand as the voice instructed us to eat.

The trees around us popped out this strangely shaped “fruit.” It was pink and white, kind of like an apple, but a square version of one. When I held it, it reminded me more of hard candy you’d get at a fair rather than a meal. When I bit into it though, it was super soft, and tasted oddly enough like strawberries. Odd, but delicious.

The rest of the day included playing around (which was weird) and then bathing in a spring (also weird) and eating a shiny red fruit thing for dinner (tasty but still weird) and then finally everyone went to sleep. Everyone except me, because nope. 

I got up once everyone else sounded like they were snoring away. I walked through the forest, trying to find a wall. It took a while but eventually I did. I walked along it, trying to find some kind of door, or maybe some kind of service elevator, or even a vent entrance. There had to be another way out. Miranda said the Amethysts came in when she got sick, and they gave all the humans shots to prevent more illnesses. There had to be a way inside! 

I did eventually find a huge pink door. I tried tapping on the panel beside it, but it didn’t activate for me. After banging my hands against it, and trying to pry it open with a stick, I gave up on that idea. I wondered if I could try getting sick, maybe? Or at least pretending? If that’s what it took for them to come inside, I could at least try. 

The tiny voice in my earring alerted me that it was time to start the routine again, so I jogged back to everyone else. I went through another day of weirdness, but I wondered how I could get myself sick, or at least look like it. I started pretending I had a stomach ache halfway through the day. I made a show of it, and the other humans kept trying to help me. 

After a while of this, my Amethyst from the ship came up. 

J10 ran up to her and begged, “Please help Jennefear, she’s feeling bad.”

“It’s alright, I got this.” Amethyst waved her hands and said, “You all go move along, I’ll help her.”

After everyone dispersed, Amethyst sighed and put up a strange hand held device. “It says here you don’t got a fever, Jen, and the assimilator checked out your vitals before you came in. You don’t have a virus. What’s up?”

She sat down beside me on the grass. I curled up, holding my stomach still, hoping I could think of something. Amethyst patted me on the back. “I’ll bet you’re not stomach sick. I’m thinking you’re homesick.” 

I shrugged and looked away. “Maybe.” 

“Aw, Jen,” Amethyst put her arm around my shoulders. “It’ll be alright. These guys aren’t so bad. Think about it, you’ll have all these friends, and you’ll never have to worry about being alone.” 

“But my family is on Earth.” I said, feeling tears well up. “My mom, she’s going to be so worried.” I actually hadn’t really allowed myself to think about them much, because it hurt, it hurt so bad. “I can’t hug my mom, I can’t play video games with Case, I miss them so much.” I started sniffling, wiping my eyes with the back of my hands. “I’m never gonna see them again, and I never got the chance to even say goodbye.” 

Amethyst wrapped her arms around me. “I’m sorry.” She said it, and it sounded like she meant it. “But I can’t take you back. Blue Diamond’s orders are the highest level of orders, and she’s not going to let you leave.” Amethyst let me cry on her shoulder, and I held onto her tight as she said to me, “Ya know, maybe I can talk to Holly Blue about bringing your family here? Would you like that?”

“No!” I pushed myself away from her. “No, no Amethyst, please don’t do that. My mom wouldn’t ever get used to this, she’d go crazy. Case would try to start a revolution! They can’t survive here. They’d just lose it.” I held my hands clasped to my chest. “It hurts, but I would rather they were on Earth than here with me, because I know they’re happier there.” I sobbed as I blubbered out, “I won’t be selfish and hurt them, I love them too much for that.”

Amethyst’s eyes glistened over. “Ok,” she hugged me again, sighing into my hair. “How about I come down for a visit sometimes? We can just talk. Would you like that?”

I nodded, and couldn’t speak much after that. After a long crying session, Amethyst was called back by her handheld. Holly Blue’s voice was so grating! Ugh. Amethyst left, telling me she would come back in a few days maybe. I stayed there in that spot until J10 came back. She took my hand and led me through the rest of the routine. I felt numb, robotic, just going through the motions. Everyone was worried about me, but I couldn’t bring myself to be chipper. 

That night, I did sleep, but I slept farther away from the others. I knew that I was going to have nightmares. I hated them, but whenever I was stressed or feeling bad, they came. I didn’t want to bother anyone with them. When they did, they were full of hands grabbing at me, my back hurting, getting hit-. When I woke up, I felt worse than having no sleep at all, and it just added onto my depression. 

I went through a couple of days just doing what the little voice said. I would go back to the door sometimes, on the off chance it might be open, but it never was. Amethyst wouldn’t ever take me outside, I knew, I was too much of a flight risk. She would no doubt tell Holly Blue everything, because she had to, and I’d never see myself out of the zoo until the day I died. 

I still went to the door, some part of me still hoping. I kept thinking maybe someone else might get hurt or sick, and when that day happened I would be at the door. I’d get out, I’d find my way home. But my hope was such a small thing, and I knew it wouldn’t be long until I might give up. 

On the fifth day, though, I did something I kind of regret, but also don’t. 

See, this place had a ritual called “The Choosening,” where two people were chosen to, uh, get together. I’d seen other people get partners and look so happy about it. For me, I felt sick to my stomach over it. I wasn’t attracted to guys, I didn’t want to do anything with a guy. 

On that day, I was chosen. I remember the sinking, horrible feeling as I walked towards the circle. A guy with curly brown hair had his hands held out, looking so happy. I froze in front of him, shaking in both rage and terror. 

The guy moved forward, said something like, “I’m so happy to be choosened with you!” 

And I might’ve punched him right in the face. 

The shocked silence that followed after was, well, intense. I think someone screamed, and then I was shouting sorry as I ran away into the fake forest. I was not going to let that happen! I didn’t know if I could run really far, but I knew I needed to run so much farther away from that mess. I didn’t feel great about what I did, because that poor guy had no idea what he was doing wrong. 

I heard the electric sound of a door opening, and I dashed in that direction. Two Amethysts passed by me, both of them looking panicked, one holding onto a box of something. I ran on, heading straight for that open door. I managed to squeeze through at just the last second, and then I kept running. 

Alarm bells started blaring all around me. “ESCAPED SPECIMEN DETECTED!” 

I kept running as reached up and desperately took out my earrings. I was no idiot, they probably had tracking tech inside. I threw them on the ground and kept going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time:
> 
> A dark shadow fell over the room. 
> 
> I saw yellow boots at my level, boots taller than me. Then I looked up, seeing a golden coat, even farther still I found shoulder spikes sticking out, and then I saw the face of Yellow Diamond, lean with hard edges. I could see it, the cut of a diamond in every part of her. She stared down with a disgusted expression at all of the gems before her.


	2. Caught and Kept

I managed to run in the correct direction of the docking bay, but had to run back when I heard a bunch of troops yelling, “She couldn’t have gone far!”

I frantically searched and searched until I got to a room with an open door. I slipped in behind a statuesque pillar. It dawned on me as I did that I must’ve been in some sort of control room. The whole place was lined with monitors and buttons and, oh no.

I heard footsteps coming towards the room and knew I must be doomed. I managed to land myself right inside the security control room! How was I that dumb? I stood there, trying to hold my body absolutely still, not even breathe if I could. Holly Blue marched in with a bunch of Amethysts and some orange striped ones I knew must be Jaspers.

“Incompetence of the highest order!” She slammed my earrings on a nearby table. “She’s not only loose, we have no idea where she is. How could you have lost a little human girl?”

“Sorry, Holly, we’re trying.” An Amethyst said off to the side. “We haven’t put up monitors everywhere yet, it’s a work in progress.”

“Fools! If she escapes, then-.”

A dark shadow fell over the room.

I saw yellow boots at my level, boots taller than me. Then I looked up, seeing a golden coat, even farther still I found shoulder spikes sticking out, and then I saw the face of Yellow Diamond, lean with hard edges. I could see it, the cut of a diamond in every part of her. She stared down with a disgusted expression at all of the gems before her.

“What is going on, Agate?” She demanded to know.

“My diamond!” Holly looked sick with dread. “These idiots lost a specimen, a girl, no bigger than one of your wondrous fingers.”

“How did this girl escape?” Yellow Diamond crossed her arms. “And don’t you have security measures for that?”

“We do, we do,” Holly Blue showed her the earrings with shaking hands. “See, these are meant to keep track of her, but she took them out.”

Yellow Diamond’s eyes roamed from the jewelry, then along to a crowd of Jaspers. “Where did you last track her to?”

“Ah, um, we saw her near the docking bay corridor, but then she ran away from there.” The tall, thin Jasper gulped. “We have a team reviewing monitors. They’ll put out a message over the comms if they see her, my diamond.”

“I see.” Yellow Diamond turned to the monitors before her. “Who is checking these then?”

“These are for the zoo itself.” Holly said gesturing to a far over one. “We have the recording of her escape from there, but not-.”

“Show me.” Yellow Diamond commanded, walking closer. I didn’t dare turn my body to watch her. I could only listen and wince as they replayed my punch. When it got to the part, I think, where I must’ve ran by the Amethysts, Yellow Diamond tersely asked, “And why was the door not locked behind them?”

“It was supposed to-.”

“Oh,” Yellow Diamond must’ve seen me barely get through. “I suppose it helps she can escape small spaces, being so small herself.” She sighed and turned back around. “Well, I think it’s obvious she wants to get away, but why?”  

“She’s a new addition, my diamond, recently acquired from Earth. Just as you requested for Blue Diamond.” Holly explained, her voice and body trembling.

“Ah,” Yellow Diamond suddenly grinned, “then it’s obvious isn’t it? Put a line of your guards around the docking bay. It’s only a matter of time before she tries to leave again. When she does, take her back.”

I glared up at her from my spot. That was exactly my plan! I bit my lip and clenched my fists. I had to get out, I had to get away. Escape was so close, I just needed to figure out how to outsmart her. I watched her leave, along with Holly and all the rest of the troops.

I slid out, checking for any lingering gems. I was about to go figure out how to make myself get around a small army to a ship when inspiration struck me. I stared at the monitors and the cables connecting them to the wall. What if I could open the door again? Maybe get the others out? If nothing else, it would be a good distraction, right?

I walked over to the screens, but I couldn’t figure out the way to make it work. I touched it like I would a tablet, I tapped, but nothing lit up or changed. Getting frustrated, I banged on a panel here and there, if only to let to help me feel better. At some point, after just a whole lot of nothing, I brought my foot back and kicked in the metal below. I grabbed my foot and cried out in pain, but when that sheet fell off, I forgot all about my foot.

I got inside, and found no wires, just a bunch of lights. I looked around, trying to find something to disrupt it. My eyes fell on the earrings left abandoned on the nearby table. It took me seconds to flash over there and toss them inside.

BOOM! All the panels exploded outwards, cracked the monitors and put them all on the fritz. I pumped my fist in the air as I saw the broken image of a door opening and humans running out. They all looked happy, like they thought it was just one big game. I felt a little bad for using them like that, but I knew the Amethysts wouldn’t hurt them.

The alarms went off again, “ESCAPED SPECIMEN DETECTED! CORRIDOR C, CORRIDOR B, CORRIDOR-.”

I booked it towards the docking bay. I heard the commotion of Amethysts and Jaspers running around and yelling to catch the humans from far away. The alarms were going nuts! They couldn’t keep track of everything. I managed to get into the hallway leading to the docking bay no problem.

As I got close, I slid along one side of the hall, staying low. I didn’t see any gems lingering there, which I didn’t expect. I thought for sure they’d at least keep a few around to stop me. Carefully, I went towards the ships, tiptoeing closer to my escape. I didn’t see anyone, or hear anything, and that felt so wrong.

I tried to tell myself it was fine, it had to be, I must’ve managed to do it and outwit that giant yellow woman. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I felt like I was being watched. But I didn’t see anyone, it didn’t make sense.

To my left, a ship transformed before my eyes from a yellow pod into the Yellow Diamond. Shapeshifting, the Amethyst said they could shapeshift, but I couldn’t have imagined, a ship?! I turned and ran towards one of the other red ships. I heard the thumping sounds of large steps right behind me.

“Enough of these games, human,” she barked behind me. I cried out as her hand wrapped around my waist, squeezing me tight. I beat my hands on her fingers, but I knew it was no use. “I said, enough.” She shook me, making my teeth clack together. “I am no longer amused.” She walked with me, back towards the zoo, the one still in chaos due to me.

Yellow Diamond didn’t seem to care about the noise or the troops trying to wrestle people back inside the door. She stood above the scurrying, looking down her nose at all of them. I tried to squirm free every once and awhile, but it was no good. Her vice-like grip wouldn’t relent.

“Honestly,” she finally said at one point, “all this for a memory.” She brought up her other hand, and a yellow light began to emit from it. “Listen here!” Her voice boomed through the hall. Everyone, human and gem, stopped to stare at her.

“If you do not return to your proper place, I will destroy all who stand here.” Yellow Diamond pointed her hand down to the crowd. “Move or become dust!”

The choice was obvious. Gem and humans worked in tandem to get everyone back inside the zoo from that point. Yellow never released her power, but she kept it out until the very last human was back behind that locked door.

When she kept me out, I thought I might be killed. She would crush me in her hand or throw that power at me for what I did. I shook at she looked down at me, a scowl coming over her face. When she turned her attention to Holly Blue, I was relieved.

“How could you let a simple task like keeping the humans in containment fail you?” Yellow Diamond asked, “Look at this! She’s not even one fourth my size and she brought this whole place down! It’s a disgrace.”

“I-I’m so sorry, my diamond.” Holly Blue said as she bowed as deeply as she could. “We will learn from this failure and rebuild.”

“If it weren’t for Blue, I would shatter every single one of you and be rid of this entire place.” Yellow Diamond said, her hand tightening around me. “As it stands, her wish to have these kept in Pink’s honor will stay your executions.”

“But this one,” Yellow glared down at me and shook me again, “is too wild to be trusted in there.”

Holly Blue looked up from her bow, slowly rose up as she asked, “So what would you have us do with her?”

“You will do nothing.” Yellow Diamond said, “I will be taking this one.”

I felt my whole body go cold. What did that mean? From the pained faces of the Amethysts and Jaspers, it didn’t mean anything good.  

“Yes, my diamond,” a somewhat pleased Holly Blue said with a small smile. “She deserves no less.”

###

Everything felt just wrong on her ship. From the huge, elaborate murals of battles on the walls to the grand chairs that sat so high above my head. She held on tight to me as she walked through the halls in oppressive silence. Anytime I had tried to talk, she’d just squeezed me, threatening to break my ribs or crush me completely. I gave up after a few tries.

I ended up in something that looked like a holding cell for definitely bigger people, but the “door” was just pure yellow light. She pressed her hand to a side panel, and a small hole opened up in that light field. She tossed me through it and I let out a cry of alarm as I went airborn.

I hit the floor hard, definitely bruising my side. When I sat up, I discovered she had closed the light field. With a sneer directed at me, she turned around and walked away.

I heard a small, different voice come from down the hall, “My diamond! I heard there was trouble. Do you require assistance?”

“Not at the moment, Pearl,” she replied, voice fading away. “But yes, there was an incident…”

And from there I couldn’t hear anything. I stood up, going over to the yellow energy field. I reached out, but even from inches away I could feel it slightly burning my fingertips. I brought my hand back. Well, wasn’t getting out that way. I searched my room, tried to find a doorway or some vent maybe like in the movies, but it was only pure yellow walls.

At some point, after hours of just pacing along the edges of my cell, I finally curled up in a back corner area, arms wrapped around my knees. I got into a dark head space. I thought, ‘If I couldn’t escape, what would my mother think happened to me?”

From there, I knew what would happen. Case and the cops would look for me, find that other boy instead down the river (hopefully alive). They’d try to find me, only to find my phone at the bottom of the gorge. The friend would probably try to convince them it was aliens, he’d been attacked by one, but Case didn’t believe in that stuff. The cops would search for my body, but after a while they’d give up. Maybe three weeks tops.

My mom would keep looking for me, Case would keep looking for me, they would search the woods until they found some trace of me. No one would think to go into space, and even if someone believed Case’s friend, no one would know how.

I was alone, trapped, outnumbered, and overpowered. I put my head down, wishing I could’ve been smarter or stronger. If I had just fought Amethyst a little harder, if I had just run a little faster, I kept making such stupid mistakes! I was so close to getting home.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts I failed to hear the field open, but I definitely screamed when a hand touched my head.

“Hey, hey, it’s me!” Amethyst had her hands up in a pacifying way. “Chill!”

I must’ve looked wrecked to her, because her face scrunched up in pity and she dropped down to my level. She put a hand on my knee. “I know it seems bad, like really bad, but you’re not dead, ya know. So you’ve got that goin’ for ya!” She grinned, a big toothy smile, but I couldn’t return it.

“Aw, man.” She threw a glance over her shoulder before holding out her hand. “Here, look, I’ve got you something.”

In her hand was my door key, turned into a kind of locket, with a long thin string as a necklace. I reached out to take it. “Um, thanks, but I don’t think I need jewelry.”

Amethyst put her finger to her lips and winked. She opened it up, and a very tiny black disk gleamed in the light. “If you want to get home someday, you’ll need this. It has the coordinates to Earth.” She closed it back up, shoved it into my hand. “Look, I don’t know what’s gonna happen to ya, but if you want to survive, don’t try to run off for awhile. And do yourself a favor: sing.”

“Sing?” I asked, terribly confused. “Why should I sing?”

“Because you’re good at it, and the Diamonds like it when their Pearls sing for them.” She explained while grabbing my shoulders. “It’s the only thing I can think of that’ll keep Yellow Diamond from hurting you too bad. If she thinks you’ll be useful somehow, maybe you won’t, uh, well I dunno what she’d do to you. You’ve gotta at least try!”

Amethyst’s brow was furrowed, her eyes glistening with tears. She was obviously worried about me, and that helped me realize that I wasn’t as alone as I’d thought. I clenched my hands around the necklace. She must’ve risked a lot to come onto the ship and bring the disk to me. I nodded my head, a burst of determination coming back.

“Alright, I’ll try.” I put the loop over my head. “Thank you for everything, Amethyst. It was nice to kind of have a friend, for a little while.”

Amethyst wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. “Yeah, I’m sorry I kidnapped you and everything. I was just, ya know, doing my job. But then I thought about being taken away from here, from my Famethyst. It’s not right.” She leaned back, opened her mouth to say something else, but shook her head. “You should go home, even if it’s...well, yeah I know you’ll get there.”

“Even if it’s what?”

“Nothing,” She stood up to walk towards the light field. “Just sing, kid.” The light opened up a hole for her to leave from. “I’ll see ya around!” She put on a big smile, a few tears escaping. As she left, the hole closed right up behind her.

I was alone again, but she brought me hope. I held onto the necklace. I would have to trust her, try out singing for the Yellow Diamond. If it didn’t work...No, it had to work. I couldn’t allow myself to think of other scenario. Maybe I’d still get punished for the escape, but if I managed to get Yellow Diamond to like my voice, I would buy time to plan and get away.

###

After a while, I drifted off to sleep, even though I really didn’t want to do that. This time, rough hands grabbed me and a hand hit my face. I woke up with a jolt of fear, gasping for air. When I saw I was still in my cell, alone, I forced myself to calm down.

Nightmares for me were a constant annoyance back home, but up in space where I was super stressed out and scared? Definitely worse than they’d ever been since I was as kid. I tried not to think about those early years, and I refused to do it right then, too. I had to focus on my plan, my really not so strong or great plan. It was the only I had, the only thing keeping me from just giving up completely.

I tried to think of a song from home, something I could do well. I thought back to watching “Who has Talent?!” with Case. There was a pop number on there I knew from a few years ago. The way the woman had sung it on the show was slow and deep, a more sad tone than the original pop song version.

I started with just humming the tune, getting my vocal chords warmed up. It was weird, trying to sing without music.

“I left you when the tide came in, on a wave with a ship, bound for the future unknown.” I wasn’t getting the beat right at all, but I kept going. “What would you say if you knew where I went? What would you do if you’d known that I’d gone? I think back to you sometimes, even though it hurts. Your laughter drew me in so deep, I never thought I’d leave.”

I went into the chorus with more strength, “But you took my heart and broke it apart. My memories are haunting me. I’m not good at goodbyes, but I’m better somewhere in tomorrow. On the island of tomorrow, I’ll be just fine. On the island of tomorrow, I’m moving on, standing in the sun. Farewell my love, I’m moving on.”

I hummed with the beat between verses, my hands playing over a missing piano. I hadn’t played much in the past few years, but I could still recall the notes. “I think I’ll miss the nights the most, staring up at the stars in each other’s arms. Why did you find someone else? What did she give that I couldn’t to you? I think back to those times, even though it hurts. Your smile drew me in so deep, I never wanted to leave!”

I closed my eyes and let my voice got high. “But you took my heart and broke it apart. My memories are haunting me. I’m not good at goodbyes, but I’m better somewhere in tomorrow. On the island of tomorrow, I’ll be just fine. On the island of tomorrow, I’m moving on, standing in the sun. Farewell my love, I’m moving on.”

I went softly into the bridge. “Even if we tried to find our lost way, there’s nothing left of trust, no reason to stay. Some tell me play it safe, don’t travel the seas. I tell them the call is too strong in me.”

In the pop version, the song went more upbeat and tried to end on a victorious note. I liked this cover version better, where the music died, and only the singer finishes on a lonely tone. “You took my heart and broke it apart. I’ll carry my memories with me. I’m not good at goodbyes, but I’m better somewhere in tomorrow. On the island of tomorrow, I’ll find my own life. On the island of tomorrow, I’m living free just for me...standing on my own. Farewell my love, I’m moving on.”

The light field buzzed. A small gem came through. Her blonde hair was slicked back and flicked up. She was clad in a skin tight leotard, yellow of course, with orange leggings.  Two pieces of gauze like fabric stood up in waves over both of her shoulders. And of course, a pearl gem was placed in the center of her chest, reflecting the Diamond she belonged to.

She clapped her hands a few times, her brow quirked in amusement. “Not half bad.” She bowed and said in a regal air. “I am Yellow Diamond’s Pearl, and she has assigned me to look after you.” Yellow Pearl walked over to me in the way I imagined experienced dancers might on a dance floor, all grace and flowing movements. For sake of simplicity, as there are so many Pearls, I shall call her 'Yellow Pearl" to keep her distinctive. 

The light field closed behind her after she stepped away from it. “I don't suppose you wish to attack me?”

“What? No, you haven't done anything to me.” I mumbled under my breath, “Not yet, anyway.”

“Very good,” she said with a smirk. “You’re not completely daft, then. Tell me, what made you think you could escape from here? You have nowhere to go but outer space.”

“I just,” I tried to think of something else besides ‘I want to go home.’ If they knew that’s what I wanted, they’d look for signs of me escaping again. I tumbled over excuses in my head until I could finally stamper out, “I-I didn’t want to be, uh, choosened. That’s all.”

“Choosened?” Yellow Pearl scrunched up her nose. “What is that?” she asked.

“It’s when at the zoo they choose two people to, um, come together to make more humans.” I skirted around details, not really wanting to give her a sex ed lesson. The whole week had already been weird enough, I didn’t want to add ‘become sex educator to an alien’ onto it. “They choose males to be with females, and I’m not at all attracted to males.”  I paused, reviewing everything I said and everything Amethyst had told me. Would Yellow Pearl even get what a male was? Would she think I was disgusting or defective for not wanting male attention?

“Come together, like...” She put her hand to her chin, contemplating. “The human version of fusion?”

“Maybe, yes?” I tried to remember what Amethyst said about fusion, but not much of what she said made sense to me at the time. Something about gems of the same cut coming together and combining powers, but that didn’t sound much like how I thought about sex. “It would have been like a forced fusion, I guess, and that was too awful to go through with.” I wrapped my arms tightly around my knees. “I’d honestly rather die than go back there.”

I don’t know if I really meant it, but I needed for Yellow Pearl to understand how horrible the whole idea was to me. She seemed to stare off into the distance, that same contemplating expression on her face. Maybe she wouldn’t even get “forced” fusion. Was that even possible for gems? Too many unknowns, I didn’t know what to say next.

“Well, you’re not going to get executed just yet.” Yellow Pearl began pacing back and forth in the room. “Yellow Diamond is still angry about your escape, but if she knows the reason it might help her to calm down.” Yellow Pearl grumbled out, “But even then she’d only downgrade to her mood from supernova to red dwarf.”

Yellow Pearl turned to me with a side glance. “Are you harboring ridiculous thoughts of revenge or of plotting to take down the gem empire? And what’s your name anyway?”

I stared at her like she was crazy. “How even could I? No! Absolutely not. I just don’t want to be there, in the zoo. And, my name’s Jennifer, but everyone calls me Jen for short.”

Yellow Pearl snorted. “Well, wish granted, you’re definitely not in a zoo, Jennifer of Earth.” She went back over to the light field, then waved her hand to open it up. “I’ll have a chat with Yellow Diamond, see if she’s even at all interested in making something out of you.” She cast a glance at me from over her shoulder. “At least, something that isn’t a slave.”

“Slave?” But I didn’t get a chance for an explanation. She waltzed back through the light field.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time:  
> On the left was a figure in black and white, a circle of ivory enveloped by her hands. Then, there was a figure in yellow, turned to the right with yellow circles on her side. Yellow Diamond, then. Next, I guessed Blue Diamond, someone wearing a long dress with blue circles all around her. And then a pink woman, her hand extended to the stars to one singular planet. 
> 
> “These are your diamonds now.” Yellow Pearl told me. “White, Yellow, And Blue. When you address them, it must always be with the words, ‘my diamond.’ You bow when you first see them and then when you're leaving their presence.” Yellow Pearl pointed to Yellow Diamond. “Yellow Diamond will be more likely to take offense at something minor, but Blue Diamond is less tolerant of failure.” She pointed at Blue Diamond now. “Blue Diamond will be kinder in tone and appearance, but never forget that she does hold just as much power as Yellow Diamond. She isn't sparse on using it either, just in a different way.”


	3. Accommodations and Cooperation

It took another few hours before Yellow Pearl returned again. She brought in a hovering tray with her, some of that zoo fruit on it. Her face showed she didn’t like the sight or smell of it. 

“We were told you would need to be fed.” She said the last bit like a curse word. The tray came over to me as if following some kind of command. 

I took the fruit and bit into it a little. “Thank you,” I said. I thought Yellow Pearl would leave after that, but she stayed and watched me eat all of it. 

When I finished, she picked up something else from the tray. It looked like a golden bracelet with light along the rim. She walked over with it in hand. “Hold out your wrist.” 

I stood up and lifted my arm, startling her with how fact I moved. Her mouth dropped as she stared up at me. “What?” I asked. “Did you not know I was a little taller than you?” 

“No I didn’t! You’ve been down on the ground the whole time, how was I to know? Oh forget it.” Yellow Pearl shoved the bracelet over my hand. When it got to my wrist, it changed form to connect on the other side, making it a full brace. I stared at it, confused about what it meant. 

“This is your new tracker,” Yellow Pearl said as if reading my mind. “It’s designed to stay firmly on the wearer. We use them for flight risk prisoners, which you are of course.” She walked over to the light field, and turned it off. 

Yellow Pearl motioned for me to follow her. I quickly trotted over, keeping in step behind her. “This is the start of your trial period.” She explained as we went through the hall, passing by other empty cells. “Yellow Diamond listened to what I had to say, but she’s still not convinced to not turn you into a working slave.” 

“What do slaves do?” I asked. Amethyst never mentioned anything about slaves, just gems and their hierarchy, although I didn’t quite memorize it. 

Yellow Pearl shuddered. “They’re sent off to faraway planets to work in the worst sorts of conditions. We don’t have many colonies that would really benefit from them, but there is a mining station on a comet out at the edge of the galaxy.” She poked me in the chest. “You should thank your lucky stars that Blue Diamond likes humans, and she wants to preserve your kind, otherwise Yellow Diamond would’ve just jettisoned you into space!”

I winced, and then nodded my head. “I guess I should also thank you, again.” I shot my thumb back towards the direction of my cell. “First for the food, but also for talking to her about me. I swear, I’m not trying to cause so much trouble, I…” I bit my lip and balled my fists up in my loincloth dress. “I just didn’t want to be hurt.” 

Yellow Pearl’s eyes softened a bit at my confession. She dropped her arm and twirled back around. “If you can somehow manage not to waste this chance, we’re going to start training.” 

“Training?” I asked as we entered some sort of ballet-esque studio room. I gaped at the sheer opulence of it, with dancers painted all over the walls in pirouettes, with dresses ranging from shiny long gowns to sheer short skirts. 

“Yes, training,” Yellow Diamond said as she headed towards what looked exactly like a ballet barre for stretching. “My idea goes like so: We teach you all the basic fundamentals a Pearl should know.” She stretched up her leg so high it went over her head. Her leg swept back down and behind her in a beautiful falling arch, and she rotated into a perfect twirl. “Easy things, enough to make a good show.” She bowed and landed into second position, her feet in a T form. “By then, Yellow Diamond will come around to seeing you as more than just some runaway human annoyance.” 

“Do you really think a little dancing is going to fix the problem?” I asked. I tried to copy her but my leg couldn’t even go straight at waist height. 

“Of course not.” Yellow Pearl scoffed. “That’s why we’ll practice other basics, too, such as singing and manners. You’ll need to know the basics of all of these in about fourteen cycles.” She came over to grab my ankle and hold it up on her shoulder. “Hold.” 

I stayed there with one foot on the floor and one on her shoulder. It wasn’t comfortable at all. I knew from watching dance shows that it was a muscle flexibility technique, but I doubted this was a “basic” move for humans. My supporting leg shook not long after we even started.

“Definitely going to need a lot of training.” Yellow Pearl said as she took my ankle off her shoulder. “Switch.” I gave her my other ankle, repeating the same pose. “Hmmm, working with this huge lack of flexibility will be a problem.” 

“Sorry, I’ve not really danced much.” My supporting leg nearly buckled under me after only about a minute. Yellow Pearl brought the ankle down with a sigh. “Is there a form of dancing that doesn’t require flexibility?”

Yellow Pearl put her hands on her head. “There is only one form of dancing for Pearls! If you wanted to dance like an Amethyst or a Jasper, you need only stomp your feet and bash your body against another’s.” 

I giggled a little at the way she described that. “Honestly, that sounds a lot like Earth forms of dancing.” 

“Do recall we’re not on Earth,” Yellow Pearl said in exasperation. She moved over to the barre and motioned for me to do the same. “You will learn the Pearl forms, and that’s that. Now, lift.” 

For the next few hours, Yellow Pearl put me through the most exhaustive work out routine I’d ever done. Stretching itself took a full hour alone, leaving the next two to attempting various positions, forms, twirls, and leaps. I stumbled or fell more often than I got the moves right. 

When Yellow Pearl seemed satisfied that I’d been put through enough torture, she took me out towards the hall again. We walked even further away from my cell. We turned a sharp right, and all the breath left my lungs. 

Stars, huge vast endless amounts of stars. A galaxy off to the left, spinning around and around. I ran over to the glass, put my hands to it. It was one thing to see pictures in books and watch movies about space. Nothing compared to actual sight of seeing the universe right outside a window. 

“It’s beautiful,” I said in a whisper. 

“Yes, well, I guess so.” Yellow Pearl poked my arm. “But we don’t have time for dawdling.” 

I nodded absently. “I thought we were still at the zoo, but we’re moving aren’t we?”

“Indeed, we’re going to jump into hyperspace within the next cycle. We have to wait for confirmation of the next coordinates and other things before we can.” Yellow Pearl poked my arm again. “But that’s not important for you to know. We should head over to your room.”

“My room?” I finally tore my gaze away from the gorgeous view. “I get my own room?”

“By necessity, yes.” Yellow Pearl started walking off again down the hall. “You humans are so high maintenance. The zoo keepers told us you need somewhere to do whatever ‘sleep’ is, and then that you needed to ‘bathe’ or you’d stink up the place. We managed to set up everything we believe you’ll need.” 

“Great, but why go through all that trouble for a slave? Or someone you thought would end up a slave?” I asked. 

“Good question, and I have no idea.” Yellow Pearl said with a shrug of her shoulders. “Yellow Diamond ordered it, and we made it happen.”

We rounded another corner, this time just entering into another hallway. We passed by yet more murals, most of them depicting gems in battle this time. Most of the battles had a large, towering gem on a hill with a halo around her head, jagged lightning looking lines drawn leaving her hands. “Yellow Diamond,” I said absently. 

“Yes, these are some of her greatest victories, the conquering of the colonies.” Yellow Pearl sounded so smug about it. “She is a relentless force, I know because I'm usually there to see it.” She waved her hand to a mural on our right, an expansive one, this time with a few different colors. 

On the left was a figure in black and white, a circle of ivory enveloped by her hands. Then, there was a figure in yellow, turned to the right with yellow circles on her side. Yellow Diamond, then. Next, I guessed Blue Diamond, someone wearing a long dress with blue circles all around her. And then a pink woman, her hand extended to the stars to one singular planet. 

“These are your diamonds now.” Yellow Pearl told me. “White, Yellow, And Blue. When you address them, it must always be with the words, ‘my diamond.’ You bow when you first see them and then when you're leaving their presence.” Yellow Pearl pointed to Yellow Diamond. “Yellow Diamond will be more likely to take offense at something minor, but Blue Diamond is less tolerant of failure.” She pointed at Blue Diamond now. “Blue Diamond will be kinder in tone and appearance, but never forget that she does hold just as much power as Yellow Diamond. She isn't sparse on using it either, just in a different way.”

I nodded in understanding as I filed that good bit of information away. “And how does Yellow Diamond feel about Blue Diamond? Do they fight and try to grab power from each other?” 

“No! Why would they do that?” She was so affronted, hand clutched over her chest with eyes wide. “Yellow and Blue love each other, they co-rule with power equal to them as gems. Taking power is just, just, impossible and not to mention it's not their purpose. They are to rule together, no matter what.” 

“Oh, wow.” I said a little surprised. “That's really different from Earth. All of our leaders just bicker and never get along.” 

“Inferior organic species, I’m not surprised.” Yellow Pearl turned away before I could get snippy about that. “Your room is just down here.” 

The door to my room was another standard huge door that I had to crane my head back to see to the top. A Yellow Diamond shape was in the center with white outlines of ivory stretched out around it. When the Yellow Pearl opened the door, I found my “room” was a actually just one fourth of the space used inside there. It looked pretty neat. The bed was atop some stairs, while my bathroom was tucked away underneath those stairs. I wasn't a fan of the lack of doors or like privacy barriers for that, you could see me do everything in there. 

I walked over to it. “Um, I really appreciate everything. I figured I'd just be stuck in a cell or ya know, killed, so this is nice. But uh,” I stuck my thumb out towards the bathroom, “can I possibly get a cover for this area?” 

“A cover? What do you need that for?” Yellow Pearl asked, prickly about my complaint. 

“It's just uh,” I wrung my hands together and blushed, “it's embarrassing to be seen like that for me.” I motioned to my body. “On Earth, we don't let other people see us without clothes unless they're like close family or friends. It's considered really rude to ask to do that if you're a stranger, and it's criminal to watch somebody be naked without permission. I know I'm not on Earth, but I don't want to show off my body to strangers.” 

“Such strange creatures,” Yellow Pearl said as she put her hands up to rub her temples. “Listen, we don’t have much in the way of human supplies, you'll have to deal with it. If it's such a big problem, I can turn around and let you do what you need to do. But before that, come this way.” She started walking up the stairs and I jogged over to catch up with her.

“You're going to need to change. You're on Yellow Diamond’s ship now, which means you belong to her.” She moved to a wall close to my huge bed, and I mean as in definitely bigger than a king size. It took up so much room, so many blankets and pillows. 

“How did they even have these things?” I asked her. “Seems like the zoo was really prepared for something like this.” 

“Once again, not important for you to know.” Yellow Pearl said with that huffy tone I was getting a bit irritated with. “Just stay on task.” She pressed her hand into a diamond on the wall. A section slid back, revealing three dresses and a cold storage area stretching up to the top of the ceiling full of food. 

“Holy smokes,” I said staring up. “There's enough of those fruits in here to last like...a year.” I knew from the zoo that they weren't like the fruits on earth. They had a sweet taste, but they were definitely not like Earth fruit. I never saw one spoil or go even a little bad. If put into cold storage, I would bet they could last a year. 

“Yes well, going back to the zoo would've been annoying.” Yellow Pearl picked out a dress, a long flowing thing with no sleeves, just straps meant to hang the whole ensemble from my shoulders. On the chest, much like Yellow Pearl’s, was a diamond cut of fabric, showing who I ‘belonged’ to. 

Yellow Pearl held it out to me and said, “Put this on after you do whatever you have to do in that ‘bathroom’ place.” 

I took it in my hands. I hadn't really worn dresses much, especially not nice ones. It was soft, satin like material. I took it with a simple thanks before going back downstairs. I told Pearl not to watch again as I got into the bathroom. It was weird not having a door or a curtain to shield me from the view of whoever was in the room. 

I took off the loincloth stuff and quickly washed. No soap or anything, but then I realized the water felt odd. I cupped it in my hands and saw something shiny in it. It wasn't soap, but maybe a kind of disinfectant? I wasn't sure, but when I finished, I definitely smelt better than I had in a long time. No towels, so I just rubbed myself down as best I could and put on the dress. 

It slipped on smoothly over my head, falling down to just last my knees. There was a small slit on the left side, a small dip of exposed waist on the right. I tenderly touched that side, noticing the bruise still there from being thrown. And I frowned when a bit of an old scar peeked out from my back. 

I tried in vain to cover it back up, but it was useless. I tried not to think about the marks on my back much, they weren't a part of me unless I bothered to look at them in a mirror, and I never did. I gave up in frustration and finally returned to Yellow Pearl upstairs. 

She assessed me with a “Hmmm,” sound, going around and around my body. She shifted some material here and there, muttering about needing to take it in. “Well, it'll do for now.” 

I jumped when she touched my bruise. “What is this?” she asked.

“It's something that happens when I get hurt.” I explained. “When we got to the ship, Yellow Diamond threw me into the cell. I landed on this side. It damaged my skin and muscle inside, so this is what happens. It's called a bruise.” I waved her hand away. “Don't worry, it'll fade away after I heal.” 

“You can heal yourself? Without poofing?” She put a hand to her mouth, sucking in a breath. “That’s kind of impressive.” 

“Uh thanks,” I said. “What's poofing?” 

Cue yet another gem lesson. Yellow Pearl taught me the basics of gems and how they could get damaged, but if it was too much they would return to their gem to regenerate later. Only through getting shattered could they not return. 

Then, she said we needed to really get started on training again, so we went back to what I called the dance studio. We spent the rest of the day there with me learning manners, how to properly bow for different castes of gen cuts, who to call clarity and who to call illustrious, but basically call the Diamonds all of those things when possible. She quizzed me after, and I passed barely. 

At the end of it all, my head hurt from all the information. Just as I was starting to feel like I was gonna pass out, she declared we were done for the ‘cycle.’ She showed me back to my room, and ordered me to sleep. I didn't bother fighting that order, I was exhausted. 

And that was my life for the next two weeks: wake up, train, eat, train some more, sing, manners, eat, train, manners, dance, eat, sleep. I had to hand it to Yellow Pearl, she might've been an arrogant little thing, but she knew her stuff and she knew how to teach on a deadline. 

It passed by so fast, but I like to think I improved a lot. On the day before I was to be presented to Yellow Diamond, Yellow Pearl and I went through my whole routine twice. When we got done, Yellow Pearl groaned and rubbed her face with her hands. 

Yellow Pearl crossed her arms and gave me a steely look. She said, “I’m going to tell you a secret, and you’re going to keep it.”

“Sure,” I said, and meant it. She’d been going out of her way to teach me all this stuff, it was only fair. 

Yellow Pearl looked over at the door, as if someone might walk in to hear her. Then she turned to me with a huge grin and confessed, “This has been fun for me!” She twirled around and giggled. “Oh, don’t get me wrong, I love working for my luminous diamond! But it had been so long since I’d been able to do something so, so, Pearl like!” She did a little toe lift and hop. “On Homeworld, I work, here, I work. This is the first time I’ve used this room in ages.” 

She sighed and came to a stand still. “I needed this, I think, so even though you shouldn’t have run away.” Yellow Pearl came over to tap my nose. “I’m glad you did.” 

I giggled and grinned back at her. “Well, I guess that’s something good that came from all of this, even if, you know.” I bit the inside of my cheek. I put a hand through my long hair, barely held up by my makeshift ponytail from a piece of loincloth. “Even if I’m rejected and sent to be on a slave colony, it was nice to do this, to at least try.” 

Yellow Pearl took one of my hands in hers. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, I’m not a Sapphire, but I’ve got a good feeling about it.” She squeezed my hand, trying to be reassuring. “So don’t get nervous. Trust in what we did. Stars knows the last thing you need is doubt right now.” 

“Thanks,” I squeezed her hand back. “I’ll do my best.” 

Even if my best wasn’t good enough, I’d give it my all, for me and for her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: 
> 
> I returned my gaze to Yellow Diamond, who was smirking at me, amusement in her golden eyes.
> 
> “How about we try something from your world?” she asked, her tone dripping with arrogance. 
> 
> I balled my fists up at my sides. I wasn’t going to let her do it. I knew perhaps she wanted me to beg and simper on my knees. ‘Please, my diamond, let me do the song I practiced!’ But I wasn’t having it. 
> 
> “If that is what my diamond wants, fine with me.” I smirked back up at her. “But forgive me if my song’s message is lost on you, as a gem isn’t a human and some things may be hard to understand.” 
> 
> I savored how her eyes shot open in surprise. Just as her face clouded over and she opened her mouth to say something I was sure would be scathing, I closed my eyes and started singing.


	4. Put On A Show

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm still running around the ideas of how hard I want to take the fic, but tags will be updated as we go. I'll be updating a few more chapters, but then I'll be going on vacation for about a month. So expect three more, and then wait until September for the next installments. Thank you!

I got dressed up in a different yellow dress than usual. It reminded me of a fairy gown I once saw in the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” with petaled like yellow fabric tapered down at the skirt. Yellow Pearl kept fussing with my hair, which I’d put into a high bun to keep out of the way, but some stubborn strands still managed to get loose. 

“What do you even need all of this for?” Yellow Pearl asked, frustrated with trying and failing to get a single strand tucked away from my face.

“To look pretty,” I said to tease her. 

She harrumphed at me. “You don’t need the hair for that.” I blushed but she didn’t seem to notice as she smoothed imaginary wrinkles off my gown. “Alright, let’s get out there. Remember, bow and be polite.”

“I know.” We had only rehearsed this a thousand times, after all. I knew what to do, I just needed the courage to do it. “I hope she’s not going to reject me outright, you know, without giving me a chance.”

“She won’t,” Yellow Pearl said turning towards my door while motioning me to follow her. “I have been giving her status reports. Nothing to spoil your debut performance, but she knows how much effort I’ve put into training you.” She puffed up her chest. “My diamond trusts me to know what I’m doing. She will want to see the results.” 

We didn’t chat much on the way to the dance studio. I kept replaying the song notes to sing for the first act, and the dance moves for the second. I just needed to show her I was willing to learn, I hadn’t tried to flee in all the time I’d been here. Surely that mattered? 

Still, I couldn’t get her furious face out of my mind, how she held me so tight in her hand. Even with some time to calm down, I still had yellow splotches of my bruise fading away, a reminder of her power and anger. 

I told myself I’d faced someone monstrous before, and came out alive, I could do it again. 

Yellow Pearl paused at the door, taking a deep breath and letting it out. “Alright, here we go.” 

The door opened, and there was Yellow Diamond. She had her arms and legs crossed, a supremely bored expression on her face. She sat upon a throne like chair, which definitely wasn’t there yesterday. I felt judged and found wanting before I even did anything. 

The barre was gone, leaving just a square empty dance space. Yellow Pearl and I approached, both of us bowing once we got to the center of the area. “My luminous diamond, I present Jennifer of Earth.” She moved off to the left, allowing me to come forward. 

I did another proper bow and said softly, “My diamond, I’ve come to perform for you.” 

“So I’ve been told,” Yellow Diamond said, unimpressed. “What an interesting change, from a wildling to this pretty little display.” 

Nothing in my manners training prepared me for a conversation. She was supposed to say, “Start the music,” or something. I decided to hedge my bets and just go full complimentary, “Your radiance, I meant no disrespect, I only wanted to escape from an awful situation. Please, allow me to show you I can be good for you.” 

“I doubt you can, but very well.” She snapped her fingers. “Let’s begin.” 

The music swelled up slow, sounding similar to a synthesized violin. I put my head up high and tucked my shoulders back for the proper form to sing. 

“Glory unto the Homeworld, bright and glimmering-.”

“No,” and just like that the music died. “No, that won’t do at all.”

I glanced at Yellow Pearl over to my left with her mouth hanging open. We hadn’t planned on needing a second song. There wasn’t any other music to accompany me. I returned my gaze to Yellow Diamond, who was smirking at me, amusement in her golden eyes.

“How about we try something from your world?” she asked, her tone dripping with arrogance. 

I balled my fists up at my sides. I wasn’t going to let her do it. I knew perhaps she wanted me to beg and simper on my knees. ‘Please, my diamond, let me do the song I practised!’ But I wasn’t having it. 

“If that is what my diamond wants, fine with me.” I smirked back up at her. “But forgive me if my song’s message is lost on you, as a gem isn’t a human and some things may be hard to understand.” 

I savored how her eyes shot open in surprise. Just as her face clouded over and she opened her mouth to say something I was sure would be scathing, I closed my eyes and started singing. 

“The stars may fall tonight, right out of the sky, but I’ll still stay with you. The oceans may vanish tonight, with all its wonders inside, but I’ll still stay with you. 

“Forever you, forever me, the only constant thing. We’ve shared a world, all of our own, made it strong enough to last, and soft enough to hold. This bond we share, beyond space and time, will guide us to our home. So say you’ll stay, stay with me.” 

I hummed the notes between the verses, opening my eyes a crack as I did. Yellow Diamond’s face was cool and composed, no sneering or a smirk to be seen. I considered that good enough to keep going.

“The clouds may cover day into night, leave us here without light, but I’ll still stay with you. Even if we lost all the trees, so then we couldn’t breathe, I’d still stay with you.

“Forever you, forever me, the only constant thing. We’ve shared a world, all of our own, made it strong enough to last, and soft enough to hold. This bond we share, beyond space and time, will guide us to our home. So say you’ll stay, stay with me.” 

I let the last note linger before I bowed. I said, “I hope the song was to your satisfaction, my diamond.” 

I heard a small scoff. I kept my eyes properly lowered with my hands in front of me. 

“Pearl, did she practice that so-called song before today?” Yellow Diamond asked, as if she didn’t care what the answer was. 

“No, she didn’t.” Yellow Pearl said with a think a small bit of pride in her voice. “Would you like to review my reports just to be sure?” 

“Careful, Pearl,” Yellow Diamond warned. “Fine, let’s see this dance.” She snapped her fingers and a different song began to play. 

I brought my arms up over my head as the music swelled up. This song didn’t have lyrics, just a smooth and pretty vibrancy to it. I did the choreography exactly how we planned it. I started off with simple forms, flowing from second to third position with my arms moving in symmetry above my head. I twirled twice before bringing my leg up over my head. Then, I bowed around at my waist, and slid to the floor as if getting on one knee to swear loyalty. 

I managed to get all of those hidden messages Yellow Pearl wanted in: the arms forming the diamond salute at one point, before going into a leap and forming my position as the same on her mural. It was a dance intended to showcase my devotion to Yellow Diamond, devotion I didn’t have at all, but I was fairly good at faking it. 

When I finished, I went into a bow again. “I hope this dance was to your satisfaction, my diamond.”

“It was something,” Yellow Diamond said. “But it’s obviously not your best talent.” 

I bit my tongue hard to prevent the cry of insult I wanted to let loose. She was just so horrid! I felt my heart sink, realizing that I couldn’t please her no matter what I did. She was determined to not like anything I did. 

“I see no point in prolonging this,” Yellow Diamond stood up from her chair. “I have no use for you. I have a Pearl who can sing and dance far better than you ever could, as you’ve no doubt noticed.” 

I nodded and looked over at Yellow Pearl. She had her lips pursed together, her hands clutching at her chest, not looking at me or Yellow Diamond. We had failed, and she was heartbroken. I wanted to go over and tell her thank you, it’ll be ok, we’ll figure something out-.

But then Yellow Diamond continued. “However, making you a slave would be a waste considering all my Pearl has done to train you into something presentable. I’ll be sending you to Blue Diamond. She could probably appreciate a human attempting to be a Pearl.” 

She walked over to the door, and the chair vanished behind her into light. “You will keep training until we return to Homeworld in sixty cycles. Oh, and if you try to escape again,” she said as she stood directly over me, “consider this deal null and void. I will send you directly to the mining facility, and you will be there until the day you perish. Is that clear, Jennifer of Earth?” 

“Yes,” I said, bowing, “I understand, my diamond.” 

“Good, because this solves many problems of mine. I intended to pick up a nice, docile creature from the zoo to train, not some wildling that needed to be shuttled off. Now, once we have you properly tamed and you know your place, Blue Diamond will be pleased.” She waved a dismissive hand and proclaimed as she walked out the door. “Pearl, you’re in charge of this. Don’t disappoint me.” 

It took a few moments after the door closed for it to hit me. I had succeeded! Sort of. I turned to Yellow Pearl with a smile on my face. She returned it and pumped a fist in the air.

“We did it! Oh my stars, more training.” Yellow Pearl waved her hands around and new equipment popped up. “We’ll have to do more complicated steps, and we’ll need to practice more Homeworld songs, and-.”

I ran over and put my hands on her shoulders. “Pearl, Pearl, take a deep breath,” I said laughing a little. “We can train tomorrow, but today, let’s just take it easy? It was a lot of stress just doing this show.” 

Yellow Pearl let out a really long breath. “I can’t believe it, we really did it,” she said, grabbing her hands and cupping her face. “She did it because of the hard work I did?” 

“I think so,” I said. I grumbled, “Lord knows it was nothing I did.”

“You were fine, honestly, but Yellow Diamond has high standards. Fine would never be good enough, but with more time we can definitely improve everything.” She took my hand and led me out. “Let’s just go talk in your room and relax. I’ll need to do some reports later, but for now you’re right let’s enjoy this.” 

###

We talked for a long time about my performance, with Yellow Pearl and I both taking a lot of that time discussing the shock of being told to sing something improvised. She was so frightened for me, and especially when I back talked. When I sang though, she couldn’t believe I just belted out that old tune without skipping a beat. She was impressed, but also took several minutes lecturing me about being a brat to her Yellow Diamond. 

As we calmed down from reviewing everything, I asked her something that had been on my mind since the verdict was declared. “So is a pet better or worse than a slave? What would Blue Diamond ask me to do?” 

“Well,” Yellow Pearl said with a shrug, “I kind of have no idea. Yellow Diamond never told me she wanted to get a human for Blue Diamond, although…” She looked around my room and at all the things in it. “It kind of makes sense now, huh?” 

“Has a Diamond ever had a pet before?” I asked. 

“No, not that I know of? But they’ve lived very long lives, so perhaps they have and I simply don’t know about it. Nothing in Era 2 shows a pet, that much I know.” Yellow Pearl crossed her arms and tilted her head. “From the way she talked, you’d be much like a Pearl, someone to just entertain Blue Diamond. She’s fascinated with humans, she met one recently and can’t get enough information about them now.” 

“That's so different from Yellow Diamond, she couldn't seem to care less about me,” I said, not that I was bitter or anything. 

“Don't take it personally, it takes a lot to get on her good side. The first five hundred years for me were the most difficult.” 

“Five hundred!” I motioned to myself frantically. “I don’t live that long!” 

“It’s fine, you’re not going to be hers for long, so it’s not a problem.” Yellow Pearl dismissed my worries away. “Just stay out of her way. She’ll likely pretend you don’t exist until she drops us off at Homeworld.” 

“Yeah,” I said, clenching some of the blankets in my hand. I didn’t know why it bothered me so much that Yellow Diamond didn’t like anything about me. I was just some thorn in her side, an irritating trouble maker that nearly escaped, which was an insult to her I guessed. And it didn’t matter if she did or didn’t approve of me, since I wasn’t going to end up with Blue Diamond. 

I focused secretly on what I needed to do behind Yellow Pearl’s back. A ship, a way to get back to Earth, somehow. I didn’t know if there was another ship, but this one was so huge I wasn’t sure I could find another docking bay. I would need to sneak around, just try my luck. 

Yellow Pearl put a hand on mine. “It’ll be alright. Blue Diamond will like you, I’m sure of it.” She poked my arm as she gave me a cheeky grin. “Your singing alone will be enough to get her attention. Even Yellow Diamond was entranced, although she’d probably never admit it.” 

I ducked my head as my cheeks warmed. “Stop, it wasn’t all that amazing.” I stood up to stretch. My body was constantly sore with all the exercises I did everyday. I could tell I was getting leaner, but I knew that could also be because I only ate those fruits three times a day. What would I have given for some proper food, like pasta or a cheeseburger.

“Not perfect, but neither was the dance. And that’s fine. We can work on all those weak points.” Yellow Pearl stood up, sticking her thumb out to the door. “I’ve got to go to work now. I’ll be gone for some time, so just practice by yourself, or whatever. Just don’t leave the room.” 

“Got it,” I said with a mock salute. 

Yellow Pearl walked out the door without looking back. I stood there at the top of the stairs breathing in and out, just slowly letting myself calm down. I went over to the closet panel, changing into the last dress available to me. It was a simple thing, just a hangover dress with a small diamond in the middle, nothing fancy or decorative about it. I used it mainly as a nightgown. 

I turned to my bed, but paused. If Yellow Pearl was going to be gone for a long time, then maybe I should take the chance to walk around the ship. I walked over to the door. Was it locked? I never bothered to try, but then again I’d been dragged around ragged without a break for about two weeks. I pushed on the hand panel. 

Lo and behold, it opened! I let out a whoop of excitement and ran out the door. I jogged by the murals and headed straight down. I visited the windows to star gaze for a bit, because man did I love that view. It was one of the best parts of being kidnapped, being able to see real space! 

After that, I got serious and started exploring for real. I backtracked to the cells, all empty just like last time. And then I went beyond them, trying to get back to where the entrance was. Under my breath I muttered, “Left, right, right, left,” to keep track of my turns. Somehow, I did it, I found the entrance that I came in at, but from there I didn’t know where to go. 

There were three hallways: the one I was in, one to the left, and one straight ahead. The door was to my right. I figured the door must lead into space, so left or straight? I did the standard eenie-meenie-miney-moe method and chose left. I muttered left as I walked through the corridor, trying to still keep track. I went left, right, left, but the hallways all had the same kind of doors for my room. I figured they must’ve all been guest rooms, then. I could’ve been wrong, but I doubted it. 

I came to a dead end, and groaned. God, this place was massive! I went back, left, right, left, and did get back to the door. I took off down the other path untraveled, muttering left, right, right, left. Once again, nothing but a bunch of the same style of doors. I sped through this way, but came to another dead end, too. 

I grumbled out, “Stupid spaceship designs.” 

I got back to the door and just threw my hands up. “Nope, not today,” I was too tired to keep going around a thousand different halls. I made my way back to my room, not quite feeling defeated. I knew there were other ways to go past the dance studio. I’d try those another time. 

When I got back, I flopped onto my bed. I curled up, wrapping my arms around myself. It was always right before sleep that my heart ached. I missed my old bed, in my old room. I missed having my mom come in with hot chocolate so we could talk until I fell asleep. I missed having my posters up on the wall.

Crying myself to sleep wasn’t an everyday thing, but it happened more often than not. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next Time: 
> 
> Yellow Diamond set me on the arm of her huge chair, elongated and made of white metal. I sat there, waiting for whatever it was she wanted from me. She tapped on a screen, and it glowed a golden color before a different sort of gem appeared on the screen.
> 
> She was a blue colored one, with white long hair flowing in waves over both of her shoulders. I couldn’t tell if she was staring at me or not, her white bangs covered over her eyes. I mentally went through the catalog of gems I’d been learning about, and deduced I must be seeing a Sapphire. I stood up to salute her, but Yellow Diamond waved dismissively in my direction.
> 
> “My Diamond, how may I assist you?” The Sapphire asked. 
> 
> “Tell me what you can about this one. What do you predict she will do?” Yellow Diamond asked, succinct and sharp.


End file.
